


Giving All: What if You Didn't Have to Choose?

by Rhiannimated



Series: How Can I Choose? [3]
Category: The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: Blow Job, Cunnilingus, Engagement, F/M, Fingering, M/M, MMF threesome, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Negotiations, The Royal Romance Book 2 Chapter 1, confessions of feelings, the most easily cleaned/healed bullet wound in the universe, voyeur Liam (The Royal Romance)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-26 12:53:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15663615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhiannimated/pseuds/Rhiannimated
Summary: Amidst an assassination attempt, Drake is injured saving Riley's life, and now it's up to Riley to save his life.  In a safe house, Riley tends to Drake's wound and he asks her a question that will change the course of their lives forever.  And then Liam arrives, breaking security protocol, desperate to see the two most important people in his world.  Will Riley answer Drake's question positively?  And how will they all sort out their deep-seated feelings for each other?SPOILER ALERT:Yes, she does.  And with sex.  The answer is always sex.





	Giving All: What if You Didn't Have to Choose?

“Riley, get down now!” she hears Drake shout.

“Riley!” Liam cries out.

The assassin pulls the trigger.

“No!” Drake yells and dives in front of the bullet meant for Riley. The two of them collide as the shot hits him.

“Drake,” Riley says, her voice frantic. “Drake!”

 

~~~~~~

 

Riley shakes her head, trying to concentrate on cleaning Drake’s bullet wound as quickly as possible. He’s lost quite some blood and his pale face is scaring her more than she wants to admit. In the middle of cleaning, Drake draws in a sharp breath.

“You alright?” Riley asks, but doesn’t stop what she’s doing.

“It’s no picnic, that’s for sure,” Drake says, his usual sarcasm still present despite his obvious discomfort. “I could use a distraction…”

“A distraction, huh? If you wanted me to take your shirt off, you should’ve just asked.” She caresses the muscles of his chest, lips curling into a mischievous smile. “Not that I mind seeing you without your shirt, but getting shot creates a few problems for us, don’t you think?”

Drake chuckles weakly. “Well, now I just feel ridiculous that I went through all this blood loss and all.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “You better.”

Drake’s face contorts into a pained scowl again, and his eyes drift to the first-aid kit. “Is there any whiskey in there? If I’ve ever needed a glass, it’s now.”

Riley shakes her head. “Sorry, I don’t think they made this first-aid kit with you in mind. There’s only rubbing alcohol.”

His lips curl into a weak smile. “Damn, I should talk to Liam about that.” His expression turns worried. “If I ever get the chance…”

She gives him a look of commiseration as she finishes cleaning up the wound. She runs a gentle hand over his exposed skin. “How does it feel?”

“Brooks, when you touch me like that, it makes me forget I even got shot,” he says, his voice sounding dazed.

She brushes the skin around the wound with her lips, leaving a light trail of kisses her in wake. She draws back and grabs a roll of gauze from the first-aid kit. Starting at his shoulder, she wraps the bandage around his torso. “You remember the last time I patched you up after a fight?” she asks, hating the silence that gives her too much time to think and worry.

“How could I forget?” His face turns stormy. “I’ve got a couple regrets in life, but punching Tariq after what I saw that night…not one of ‘em.”

Riley gives a wry laugh. “We thought our problems were big back THEN.”

Drake’s face relaxes slightly. “Brooks…taking a hit for you was as worth it then as it was tonight.” He suddenly reaches out, cupping her face tenderly with one hand. “I keep thinking back to that moment…if you’d been hurt…”

She pauses her ministrations and meets Drake’s serious gaze. “But I wasn’t. Thanks to you.”

His serious expression storms over again. “I need you to know that I’ll ALWAYS be there to protect you.”

“You’ve more than proven that.” Riley finishes wrapping the gauze, tucking the end in and securing it with tape. “How’s that?”

“Good as new. You did great,” he reassures her.

She continues fussing with the bandage.  “Looks like the bleeding’s stopped. We’ll have to keep an eye on it to make sure.”

Drake reaches for her hand. When he grasps it, Riley can feel his strength already beginning to return and her heart rests a little easier. “Hey, there’s something I need to say.”

She looks at him curiously. “What is it?”

“Tonight, for a split second, I was terrified.”

“You were shot! Anyone would be scared…”

She trails off and he says, “No, not then. When I saw the gun aimed at you, and I thought…I thought I might lose you.”

“Drake,” Riley replies, her voice full of emotion. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Brooks. I was a fool to try and fight it.” He grins at her.

She returns his grin. “Yeah, but you’re MY fool.”

Drake reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small, satin-covered box. He meets her eyes with a vulnerability she’s never seen in him before. “I know I said I hadn’t thought much more on our conversation from our shopping trip about my future wedding, but that was a lie. I’ve thought about it a lot, but I kept talking myself out of it. Now…after what happened tonight…knowing you could’ve been shot, or… Well, it made me realize that life’s too short to waste any more time. We should make the most of the time we have while we’ve got a chance.”

Riley clutches at her heart. “Drake…”

He opens the box to reveal a beautiful, vintage ring. “Brooks…” he trails off. “RILEY, will you marry me?”

She looks at the ring with a giant smile on her face. “Drake…I can’t WAIT to be your wife! Nothing in the world could make me happier.” Then her smile dims. “But… what about what happened earlier? With Liam?” Riley suddenly feels even worse, realizing that he’s had the ring in his pocket all night, thinking about doing this and then changing his mind.

Drake sighs. He’s about to answer when there’s an unusual knock at the door.

Riley’s look of guilty grief morphs into terror as her head snaps towards the door. “What do we do?” she hisses at Drake.

He sighs again. “Answer it. It’s either Bastien or Liam…” Of course they would interrupt just as he was about to secure the hand of the woman he loves.

“Are you sure?” she asks, looking like the last thing she wants to do is leave his side, which cheers him up a bit.

“Yes,” he answers, looking confident. “I know that knock.”

She creeps over to the door, staying low so no one outside can see her. The knock comes again and she tenses, then looks through the peep hole. She gasps and throws the door open. “Liam!” she cries, throwing her arms around him.

“Riley! You’re okay,” he says, relief palpable in his voice. He wraps her up in a tight embrace. “Where’s Drake?” he asks, sounding distraught.

“I’m over here,” Drake says.

“Drake!” Liam calls out, disengaging from Riley, running over to the couch, and falling to his knees beside his best friend. “You’re alive!”

“I’m fine,” Drake grumbles while Liam fusses over his bandage, finally slapping his friend’s hands away. “Riley patched me up.”

“I’m so relieved,” Liam says, gazing into Drake’s eyes. “I saw the bullet hit you, saw the two of you collide and hit the floor, and then I lost track of you both. I’ve never been so worried in all my life.” Liam sighs in relief and finally takes a look around the safe house. “Why is it so dark in here?”

Riley comes up behind him, slips by, and sits next to Drake on the couch. “We don’t know…only the emergency lights came on when we got here.”

Liam immediately stands and shoves his hand in his pocket. He pulls out his cell phone and shoots a text message to Bastien.

“What are you doing here, Liam?” Drake suddenly asks. “If you were following security protocol, we wouldn’t be seeing you until tomorrow the earliest.”

Liam’s face hardens. “FUCK security protocols,” Liam thunders, surprising Drake with a rare use of profanity. “You were shot. I had to be by your side immediately, no matter what. Bastien got me here as soon as he deemed it safe.”

The lights come on, and Liam relaxes a little…until his gaze falls on the small, satin-covered box next to Drake on the couch, open and showing a sparkly, familiar ring: Drake’s grandmother’s engagement ring.

Drake notices where Liam’s gaze has fallen and immediately becomes uncomfortable. “Look, Liam…” he trails off and Liam shakes himself.

“No, whatever you’re going to say is only going to make me feel worse, I’m sure. I shouldn’t have interrupted.” Liam looks around the room miserably, trying to find a way to escape the emotions thundering across his mind.

“Liam, come here,” Riley commands, getting through his misery and panic before he could dash off.

He obeys, sitting on Drake’s other side.

“Yes, Lady Riley?” he asks, his eyes meeting hers.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Drake answers instead. “I asked her to marry me, but we hit a bit of a snag.”

Riley takes a deep breath. “I want to marry Drake,” she says, gazing at her wounded hero with longing. “But I can’t stop loving you, either, Liam.”

“I don’t want to get between you two,” Liam says, looking down at his hands. “It was selfish of me to try and continue a relationship with you once you chose Drake to be with.”

Riley looks like she’s going to protest when Drake speaks up again. “Well, I can’t stop loving either one of you.” Riley and Liam both look at him, shocked. “What? It’s true. I’ve tried to deny how much I love you, Liam, but it’s impossible. Same with Riley.” He runs a hand through his hair. “For the sake of honesty, I should say that I don’t feel like I deserve either of you. You both know I’m not one to talk about my feelings much, but after tonight? I’m laying it all on the table. I need you both in my life, one way or another.”

Overcome with emotion, Riley gently throws her arms around Drake and buries her face in his neck, avoiding his bullet wound. “Drake, I love you so much,” she says, her voice muffled by his skin and saturated with emotion.

Liam reaches out to grasp one of Drake’s hands and looks at his friend with an open face. “I love you, Drake. That love has morphed over the years from friends and brothers to so much more. One of my greatest wishes is to see you happy. I can’t speak for both of us, but if being with Riley and me is a way to give you that happiness, far be it for me to pass that chance up.”

Riley’s eyes widen. “Are you suggesting… that the three of us be in a relationship, together?”

Liam nods. “If all parties agree, I don’t see why not.”

Drake’s face holds a combination of hope and terror. He’s so used to never getting what he really wants that this seems impossible. “How…how would that work?” he asks tentatively.

Abruptly, Liam stands up and begins pacing across the room. “This is how I think it could happen. Drake and Riley, you should be married. Nothing should be able to come between you, at least in a legal sense, and this is the best way to secure that. As for me? I will marry for political reasons. Definitely not Madeleine, but I’m sure I can find someone everyone approves of. Instead of carrying out an affair with just Riley, it will now include both of you.  If you’re both amenable, that is.” He stops pacing and faces his two loves.

Drake and Riley hold hands, watching Liam pace, each of them filled with dawning hope. When he stops to look at them, Drake picks up the ring from its box and turns to Riley. “Riley Brooks, will you marry me and love our best friend Liam on the side?” he asks with a dopey smile on his face.

Riley grins, though a small sob escapes. “Are you both really sure about this?” she asks, looking first at Drake and then at Liam.

They both nod, failing to keep ecstatic grins off their faces.

“Then, yes. I will marry you, Drake Walker, and love our best friend Liam on the side,” Riley says, her voice becoming giddy.

Drake slips the ring on her finger and she holds it up to let it sparkle in the light. He reaches out to thread his hand through the hair at the back of her head and pulls her into a deep kiss, only stopping when he hisses from the pain in his shoulder.

“Sorry,” she says sheepishly, leaning away to take pressure off the wound. She turns to Liam, who is looking at the two of them with such fondness it makes her heart sing. “So, do you agree to see us on the side, Your Majesty?”

He arranges his facial features to look the most serious she’s ever seen him. “I do,” he says in a grave voice.

“You don’t hafta sound so depressed about it,” Drake snarks, and Liam bursts out laughing.

“Drake, I am…beyond elated,” Liam says, coming to sit down next to him again. He puts a hand on Drake’s thigh and Drake’s breath hitches.

“Liam,” he whimpers, lust shooting through him so quickly it makes him dizzy. Riley’s fingers are playing with the hair at the base of his neck, sending pleasant tingles all along his spine. He moans, “God, Riley.” His head falls forward to give her more access.  “What did I do to deserve this?” he asks in what he thinks is a rhetorical tone, but Riley responds.

“You took a bullet for me and saved my life.” She uses the hand on his neck to direct him into a fierce kiss, pouring all of her love and gratefulness into it.

The intensity of her kiss ushers a guttural moan from the back of Drake’s throat and distracts him so much he doesn’t even notice Liam undoing his pants. By instinct alone, he shifts his hips up to let Liam pull them down, only realizing what's happened when the cool air of the safe house hits his erect and throbbing cock. He pulls back from the kiss with Riley with a gasp. “Fuck, Liam!” he cries out as his friend/lover takes him all the way into his mouth. Drake always loved the look of Liam’s plump, dark lips around his cock, because Liam looked at him with a worshipful expression that made Drake feel like he must have done something right to deserve such a look from this precious soul. Seeing Liam there when Drake thought he never would again gives him a thrill and he thrusts up. Liam pushes his hips down and holds him there, making Drake squirm and cry out.

“You two are so hot together,” they hear Riley rasp out from beside them. She’s been nipping at Drake’s neck and shoulder while one of her hands plays with herself under her dress. They both notice at the same time that her underwear is around her ankles.

Liam pulls off of Drake, a little string of saliva running down his face. “Riley, you are stunning. Take off your dress and sit next to Drake.”

She quirks an eyebrow at Drake but does what Liam says as quickly as possible. While she does that, Liam goes back to licking Drake from base to tip, occasionally swirling his tongue over the head. Drake’s biting his hand to try and hold in a string of curses and moans. When Riley sits back down, she’s breathless. “Now what?”

Never stopping his ministrations on Drake, Liam drags a hand up Riley’s inner thigh, then brushes his fingers through her wet curls, teasing her. She takes a sharp breath and Drake’s eyes snap to his best friend’s hands on Riley. Two of Liam’s fingers slip inside of her and Riley bites her lip and squeezes her eyes shut.

“Yeah…” she whispers up to the ceiling.

Liam does something complicated with his tongue and Drake sucks a breath through his teeth, still watching Liam’s fingers pumping into Riley. Drake slides his own hand down the center of her chest, past her bellybutton, further, and lightly fingers her clit.

Riley gasps loudly. “Uhhn, harder!”

Drake strokes her more firmly at the same time that Liam starts thrusting his fingers harder. Liam moans his excitement around Drake at seeing Riley so worked up and the vibrations make Drake’s entire body shudder in pleasure.

“Damn, your mouth, Liam,” Drake cries out, his free hand grasping at the short, curly hair on Liam’s head.

Liam slurps his way off of Drake and says, “I love how you taste,” before diving back in.

The stimulation quickly becomes too much, and Drake shouts, “Uhng, enough! Stop!”

Immediately, Liam stops and chuckles, then refocuses his attention on Riley. Drake holds the base of his cock to keep himself from going over the edge just yet, instead watching Liam bring Riley to orgasm with his mouth and fingers. She’s writhing in her seat, hands grasping Liam’s head, Drake’s arm, or leg, or whatever bit she can get a hold of. When she comes, she shouts out unintelligible nonsense that sounds a bit like DR-IAM!”

Drake can’t help but giggle at his name smooshed together with Liam’s, and Liam also lifts his head and chuckles.

“What. Is so. Funny?” she asks between heaving breaths.

“Nothing, my love,” Liam says, leaning up between her legs and kissing her fondly.

“How do you feel?” Drake asks, his voice thick with arousal.

Riley looks at her her fiance, eyes alight with love and desire. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? My hero?”

Drake’s eyes slip close, an involuntary little smile on his face. “I’m not a hero Brooks. I only saved your life because I can’t live without you.”

She gasps and moves quickly to straddle him and lower herself onto him slowly. “Oooohhh,” she moans, settling all the way down. “I love you so much, Drake.” She looks deeply in his eyes and lifts up a few inches, sinking back down and drawing a moan from him.

“Brooks, I love you so much I can’t see straight. Oh God,” he grunts when she starts setting a slow but steady rhythm. His hands roam over her breasts, briefly pinching and rolling her nipples. They finally settle on her hips and he pushes his hips up to meet her every thrust. “I can’t wait to marry you.”

The words send a bolt of desire through Riley and she cries out, her pace quickening a notch. “I’m,” she gasps. “I’m going to be your wife.”

His fingers dig into her hips and his hips drive upwards even harder. “Yes,” he hisses through his teeth. “I’m going to be your husband.” He reaches a hand up to the back of her head and pulls her in for a deep kiss.

Riley’s arms go around his neck on instinct and she starts moving her hips in circles every few thrusts. When they pull apart, Riley’s eyes flick to her right and she sees Liam sitting where she sat before, watching them with arousal in his eyes and a hand on his cock. She’s been so wrapped up in Drake, she’d forgotten about Liam. But now that she sees him looking at them with such intense longing, a fuse lights inside her that she didn’t know existed. Her orgasm bursts through her and she lets her head fall back with a howl of pleasure. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Liam hunch and spill over his hand, watching them intently. It sends another jolt through her and she cries out again. The pleasure is so intense it almost hurts and she flings herself forward to bite Drake’s uninjured shoulder in a bid to channel the intensity somewhere.

“Fuck, Riley!” Drake shouts, wrapping his arms around her and holding her to him tightly as he comes hard inside of her. “Oh my God,” he says, out of breath.

“That was…incredibly sexy,” Liam said, his voice hoarse.

“I feel like we left you out at the end, there. Sorry, man,” Drake says. His head sinks back into the cushions as he slumps over. “Whoops. I don’t think I can stay upright anymore.”

Riley climbs off of him, feeling the wetness flow out of her, and she thanks God for birth control injections. “We might need a towel of some sort,” she says ruefully. “I guess the sexy part is over.”

Liam strides to the bathroom and comes back with an absurdly plush towel for a safe house in the middle of the woods. “On the contrary, Lady Riley. I enjoy taking care of the people I love. Allow me.” Liam approaches her and brings the towel between her legs, gently but thoroughly wiping away the evidence of Drake and Riley’s lovemaking with reverence. He then turns and wipes Drake down just as reverently, giving him a heated kiss while he works.

“Didn’t think I’d get to do that again,” Drake says, his voice slurred with exhaustion.

“I’m glad you thought wrong in this instance,” Liam says, resting his forehead on Drake’s.

Drake breaks out into one of his rare, giant smiles. “I’m glad I did, too.”

Riley stands there grinning. Before she left New York, she’d started to think love was not going to be part of her life. She could find sex whenever she wanted, and she did, liberally and with abandon, but love didn’t seem to be in the cards. When she came to Cordonia, she was vaguely interested in both these men, but figured she would have to make a difficult choice at some point. Although, honestly, the chances of her becoming queen seemed like they went from “no” to “hell no.” Now here she is, and in an even bigger twist of fate, they all love each other.

“I love you both so much,” she says. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to choose after all.”

Drake mumbles something that sounds like, “Love you guys,” but he’s too sleepy to enunciate.

Liam bends down and swoops Drake up into his arms.

“Whoooaaa,” Drake says, holding on for dear life.

Liam deposits him on the bed and tucks him in. “You need to rest and get better.”

Riley stands and stretches, looking between the couch and the bed, trying to figure out which would be the best place to crash.

Liam smiles at her. “Go on and take the bed. You should sleep with your fiance,” he says. “I won’t tell the court what happened if you won’t.” He winks.

Riley chuckles. She kisses Liam goodnight and whispers, “I love you,” in his ear, feeling elated by the fact that she can say it so freely now, at least around them.

“I love you, too, most ardently,” Liam says, and she can see the same thought reflected back in his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, we all love each other. Can’t an injured man get some sleep around here?” Drake calls from the bed, holding one hand out for Riley. “Gimme my fiancee, Liam!”

“I’m coming, Grumpy,” Riley says, smiling like a fool as she climbs in beside him and snuggles up to his side. She kisses him. “Love you, Drake. Night night.”

He makes a contented noise and drifts off to sleep. Liam makes a nest on the couch with extra blankets from the closets and lies awake for hours, thinking about the assassination attempt, what he needs to do for Cordonia, and most importantly, how lucky he is to have survived and be rewarded with the love of the two most important people in the world to him. Riley closes her eyes and revels in the love she feels from her men. She’ll marry Drake and they’ll love Liam, and she’ll never be lonely again.


End file.
